Alpo Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Do you suppose there is any water out there in the wilds, these days, that is safe to drink? The book I'm reading was written in the 50s. It starts off with the guy going hunting. He camped out the night before the season opened, and the next morning he goes down to the creek to get water to make coffee. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it right now and they're holed up in this cabin in a snowstorm, and the next morning he went down to get water from the creek. And it was probably safe to drink most water out in the woods in the 50s. But nowadays. Would you? I mean if the choice was drinking water that maybe not so good or dying of thirst, well yeah I drink the unknown water. But when I go off road I not only have several gallons of drinking water in the truck, but I've got a life straw (which truthfully I hope I never use). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 (edited) Some water has dangerous microbes, giardia, for example. And you know what fish do there, right? )))) Edited February 24 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 It is if you treat it with NaOC1* a couple of hours before you boil it for 5 minutes or so. Beave fever ain't fun. * Sodium Hypochlorite or Javex 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 NaOCl sodium hypochlorite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckshot Bear Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 3 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said: It is if you treat it with NaOC1* a couple of hours before you boil it for 5 minutes or so. Beave fever ain't fun. * Sodium Hypochlorite or Javex Me and all my mates caught beaver fever about when we turned around 14. 1 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 6 hours ago, Alpo said: Do you suppose there is any water out there in the wilds, these days, that is safe to drink? Probably, but I wouldn’t test it by drinking it to find out. Years ago two friends of mine wouldn’t heed the warnings of myself and my friend Craig warnings about drinking stream water in Yosemite Nat’l Park. We were all very thirsty and hot, but Dave and Paul couldn’t wait until we got back to camp from a 14 mile hike. We still have about 2.5-3 miles to go. They both spent the night sitting on outhouse type toilets. We took them to a clinic the next morning. They were surprised they didn’t have Giardia. The nurse said “Oh, you got lucky. Giardia is much worse.” Harsh lesson for two college educated know-it-alls. They got what they deserved for being snotty about my friend Craig and I “not having a college education.” Not sure what that had to do with not drinking stream water… 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 I read that Giardia was once confined to a small area. Someone drank from that stream and moved on, soon getting hit by diarrhea, wish began the spread of giardia a ross the west. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Sure. I hunt high up in the mountains. The mountain streams are above agriculture, so there is no animal waste or nitrate fertilizers in it. The only thing I worry about is giardia, a virus. It is not known to frequent high elevations, but I carry a giardia-rated filter nonetheless. Pump it through and I'm golden. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 16 minutes ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said: Sure. I hunt high up in the mountains. The mountain streams are above agriculture, so there is no animal waste or nitrate fertilizers in it. The only thing I worry about is giardia, a virus. It is not known to frequent high elevations, but I carry a giardia-rated filter nonetheless. Pump it through and I'm golden. Not a virus, a parasite. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Kit Cool Gun Garth Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 In Idaho, we have sheep herds foraging in the mountains so mountain streams are seldom safe. My brothers and I got horribly Ill sixty years ago just swimming in a beautiful clear creek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 (edited) 9 hours ago, Alpo said: ...he goes down to the creek to get water to make coffee. ... I don't drink coffee so I'm assuming that you boil water to make coffee? If'n my assumption is correct that the water would be save to drink (because boiling) until you add the coffee... I don't remember reading any historical facts the west was settled by transporting bottled mineral spring water across the plains. They got their water from streams, rivers, watering holes, lakes along the way. But on the other hand that might explain why too many Californian's corn bread ain't done in the the middle. Edited February 24 by Matthew Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Oooops more like 70+ years ago. We always boiled the H out of the water for coffee and for soaking our beans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 4 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said: Me and all my mates caught beaver fever about when we turned around 14. I think that's pretty universal. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 When a kid I drank out of running streams - never standing pools. Haven't for years. Population on water shed has multiplied by hundreds. One time when logging with dad on a snow crusted day, I got thirsty. Little stream was running with cold water. Got me a drink. Yuck! Looked up stream a hundred yards to see a cow pasture where the cows had been fed heavily covered with manure. I remember reading the Louis and Clark journals going up the Missouri, they advised dipping below the surface to get drinking water. They knew about malaria and took along quinine to doctor it, but didn't know what caused it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 5 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said: When a kid I drank out of running streams - never standing pools. ... I think it was the TV show "Naked and Afraid" I was watching. Man thought he was doing the smart thing by drinking from a running stream. They medically hauled him out a free days later. If he had checked further up stream he would have found the stream was the overflow from a stagnate pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 (edited) I was pretty much "free range" when a kid. Water was from a cistern probably spring fed as there is a spring within 30 yards off house and well. We have several spring on the farm. The most reliable one often has a buildup of yellow/orange foam around in places. I suspect it's sulfur from some coal deposits. We have a deep well now. Sometimes we get a sulfur smell. Funny, our granddaughters love our water, I suspect it's got mineral taste and hard. Their city water has been treated, of course. I offer strangers and guests bottled water or other choices. Edited February 24 by Warden Callaway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jack Black Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 4 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said: Me and all my mates caught beaver fever about when we turned around 14. I am 75 and have had a chronic case of Beaver Fever that at times tires me out. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 (edited) 1 hour ago, Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life said: Oooops more like 70+ years ago. We always boiled the H out of the water for coffee and for soaking our beans. At high altitudes water boils at a lower temperature, sometimes not hot enough to kill all the pathogens. This has caused problems in some food processing establishments at high altitudes. Federal regulations for making jerky were changed when an establishment in the New Mexico mountains produced some jerky contaminated with Salmonella. Edited February 24 by J-BAR #18287 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 (edited) Years ago when I lived in Wyoming we used to back pack into the Powder River canyons west of Kaycee, Wyoming for some of the best trout fishing on the planet. This is the Hole In The Wall country that Butch and Sundance visited. The hike in wasn’t bad because it was mostly all down hill but the hike out was a lot of work. The last time that I went on the trip we didn’t boil the water long enough for our hike out and we all got giardia, not fun. Took awhile to get over it. Edited February 24 by Yul Lose 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 21 minutes ago, Yul Lose said: Years ago when I lived in Wyoming we used to back pack into the Powder River canyons west of Kaycee, Wyoming for some of the best trout fishing on the planet. This is the Hole In The Wall country that Butch and Sundance visited. The hike in wasn’t bad because it was mostly all down hill but the hike out was a lot of work. The last time that I went on the trip we didn’t boil the water long enough for our hike out and we all got giardia, not fun. Took awhile to get over it. It’s a parasite. Do you remember what the treatment was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 5 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: It’s a parasite. Do you remember what the treatment was? That was about 40 years ago so I don’t remember, but I’ll bet treatment for it today is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stump Water Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 1 hour ago, Warden Callaway said: I was pretty much "free range" when a kid. This^... in the Blue Ridge of SW Virginia. Never drank from the creek/river, but drank from springs all the time. Sometimes you'd make a small depression so the water from the spring would pool up and you could dip it out after it was running clear again. Sometimes someone had been there before you and done the same... and there would be a dipper hanging nearby. A backwoods public water fountain as it were. Lots of households then/there still didn't have running water. They carried water to the house from a spring. If the spring was too far up the hill it was piped to a cistern closer to the house (probably thru iron pipe). I have not lived where there was "city water" in over 30 years. Can't stand the smell of it much less the taste. I won't even rinse with it after brushing my teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey Creek,5759 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Can dig. a hole 3 feet from stream. That would filter out any parasites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORNERY OAF Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Our dogs get girardia occasionally from drinking dirty water here on the farm....good dose of metronidazole works very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 I learned about how altitude changes cooking when I was the cook on our pack trips as a kid I was camp cook at 12 and boiled some beans. When I was done, they were still hard as a rock. :-)9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 37 minutes ago, ORNERY OAF said: Our dogs get girardia occasionally from drinking dirty water here on the farm....good dose of metronidazole works very well. That is apparently also the treatment for people. Quote When signs and symptoms are severe or the infection persists, doctors usually treat giardia infection with medications such as: Metronidazole (Flagyl). Metronidazole is the most commonly used antibiotic for giardia infection. Side effects may include nausea and a metallic taste in the mouth. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 In the mountains above Palm Springs there is a spring next to the highway. In the thirties (CCC) a pipe was installed into the spring on the side of the mountain along with stonework that directed the water flow through the pipe. Locals would take jugs to the spring and fill them up. We would fill up some containers when we were in the area. The water tasted very good and I never heard of anyone getting ill from it. I never saw this spring not running even during the driest times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 When I was a senior in high school my Dad was buying 33 acres in the country in PA. The water came to the house through piping from a spring cistern up on the hillside. The water tasted fantastic. A couple of months after we moved there a guy from the state came to sample our water for testing. I don’t recall the details why. Anyway about a week later he returned and told my dad and mom that our water was absolutely pure and completely safe to drink. The very high hill beside our house was all woods. There were deer, foxes, bobcats, birds and chipmunks. No livestock or people. A really nice piece of land. It’s now a private club’s hunting preserve. The house we lived in is long gone. But, I’ll bet the water from that spring is still just as good. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Used to manage a mountaintop communications site on Toro Peak in the Santa Rosa mountain range west of Palm Desert, Ca. The site was at 8,700 ft elevation and on the drive up, 16 miles there was a spring about 2/3rds of the way up. The water was very cold and wonderful to drink. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 24 Author Share Posted February 24 Back when I was in Boy Scouts, there was a area - I can't think of what else to call it - it was owned by the Woodsmen of the World. And they let the Boy Scouts use it. The main section of the land was a limestone spring, which fed out into a pond which fed into a creek which eventually fed into the lake that my county gets its drinking water from. And that limestone spring water is the best tasting water I have ever had. It was also polluted. There would be tadpoles down there, as large as your hand, with three and four tails. There would be bullfrogs with six legs. And the scoutmaster told us not to drink that spring water. But it sure tasted good. I wouldn't drink it today, but I was 14, and stupid. And it sure tasted good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Ron Wayne Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 I have a beautiful creek running thew my property. I would not drink out of it with out boiling the water . My dogs drink out of it every day . 20240208_115132.mp4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 44 minutes ago, Alpo said: Back when I was in Boy Scouts, there was a area - I can't think of what else to call it - it was owned by the Woodsmen of the World. And they let the Boy Scouts use it. The main section of the land was a limestone spring, which fed out into a pond which fed into a creek which eventually fed into the lake that my county gets its drinking water from. And that limestone spring water is the best tasting water I have ever had. It was also polluted. There would be tadpoles down there, as large as your hand, with three and four tails. There would be bullfrogs with six legs. And the scoutmaster told us not to drink that spring water. But it sure tasted good. I wouldn't drink it today, but I was 14, and stupid. And it sure tasted good. Ah. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 24 Author Share Posted February 24 54 minutes ago, Rooster Ron Wayne said: I would not drink out of it with out boiling the water . My dogs drink out of it every day I've seen my father in law drink out of a ditch. He said if the dogs drink out of it it's okay. If it won't hurt a dog, it won't hurt him. I've seen my dog drink out of the rain gutter. I don't think I would want to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckshot Bear Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 34 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said: Ah. More uh hmmmmm Answers a lot of questions..... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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